Looking for a bird App for an upcoming trip! (2 Viewers)

[andrew.hersey.1]

Hey all!

I will be going on a vacation to several places in the Moddle East and Europe and wanted some advice on which app I can download to help ID birds!

 

[delia todd]

Hi Andrew and a warm welcome to you from all the Staff and Moderators. I've moved your post to the Information Wanted forum, as I think you'll get a better response there.

I'm sure you will enjoy it here and I look forward to hearing your news.

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Welcome to BirdForum. The most obvious thing is to download the free Merlin app and then download packs for it for the areas you're visiting. You can also get the Collins Bird Guide app, which is excellent and based on the best field guide for Europe. You have to pay for that one.

 

[Butty]

Welcome to BF.
See...
Sticky thread for best birding apps

 

[KC Foggin]

Welcome aboard Andrew and have a great trip

 

[Steve Arlow]

Birds of the Middle East by Porter & Aspinall, very good regional field guide available in paperback which I would recommend, has an App but its not free. Companion App to the generally very good field guide. Available on both IOS and Android. It does however need improvements.

 

[temmie]

While I have done bird trips without a field guide, in parts of the world I'm quite familiar with the birds, I would still recommend buying the Collins field guide by Svensson, in the paper version.

 

[lgonz1008]

Best app you can download for free, which includes the bird calls and a short description for the common species the region is the Merlin app, just download the pack for the country or region you are on/planning to visit.

 

[abirdingguy]

"Ornito" is free and worth checking out. The scope and content is very impressive given that it seems to be a labor of love created by only two guys. Ornito covers birds from around the globe and has links to several outside sources for each species if more information is desired. It doesn't have the photo or song auto-ID of Merlin though. At least on the Android version, it is more respectful of your privacy than Merlin. When exploring new locations, I've often found it sufficient for use in the field while leaving the book form of a field guide in the car or at the hotel for more in-depth study of difficult cases.

 

[albatross02]

You can also check for birds which expected in the areas.
There is ornitho.de in Germen, English and French
ornitho.it for Italy.
ornitho.fr for France
ornitho.at for Austria
ornitho.pl for Poland
ornitho.ch for Switzerland
ornitho.eus for Spain
ornitho.li for Luxemburg
faune.hr for Croatia

 

[01101001]

"Ornito" is free and worth checking out. The scope and content is very impressive given that it seems to be a labor of love created by only two guys. Ornito covers birds from around the globe and has links to several outside sources for each species if more information is desired. It doesn't have the photo or song auto-ID of Merlin though. At least on the Android version, it is more respectful of your privacy than Merlin. When exploring new locations, I've often found it sufficient for use in the field while leaving the book form of a field guide in the car or at the hotel for more in-depth study of difficult cases.

It looks very appealing, and I like all the pictures in it, but it doesn't have Hooded Crow (instead has Carrion Crow with a strange range), some statuses are mixed up, species from one genus are sometimes split between different sections, some different species have certain illustrations identical (e.g., Common Tern and Arctic Tern) and country lists also have mistakes (like Fuerteventura Stonechat instead of Siberian Stonechat).